After nearly a year of mandating lockdowns and closures in the state, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted his COVID-19 restrictions, effectively opening all businesses and abolishing the statewide mask mandate by March 10.
NEW: Issuing an executive order to lift the mask mandate and open Texas to 100 percent. pic.twitter.com/P4UywmWeuN
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) March 2, 2021
In his address in a local restaurant in Lubbock, Abbott cited falling hospitalization rates as well as the state’s vaccine distribution and rollout success, prioritizing vulnerable populations such as the elderly, as the main reason for reopening. He also expressed hope that most of Texas would have the opportunity to be vaccinated soon.
“Today Texas will report a new one-day record for the number of people receiving vaccines — more than 216,000,” he tweeted. “We are now providing more than 1 million vaccines a week. This is a big reason why hospitalizations are at the lowest level in four months.”
Today Texas will report a new one day record for the number of people receiving vaccines—more than 216,000.
We are now providing more than 1 million Vaccines a week.
This is a big reason why hospitalizations are at the lowest level in four months.
Always voluntary.#txlege
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 2, 2021
Abbott’s new order rescinds most of his old Wuhan virus directives and gives counties the burden of enacting further restrictions if hospitalizations rise above 15 percent of an area’s total bed capacity.
“Texas is in a far better position now than when I issued my last executive order back in October,” Abbott said, noting that businesses may still choose to enact restrictions. “It is their business, and they get to choose to operate their business the way they want to. At this time, however, people and businesses don’t need the state telling them how to operate.”
Abbott also admitted that after months of giving into the COVID mitigation pressures created by corporate media, it is time for “businesses and families in Texas [to] have the freedom to determine their own destiny” after months of being subjected to his executive orders limiting business operations, social gatherings, and other practices within the state. Still, he continued to urge Texans to take extra precautions and follow the advice of medical experts.
“Today’s announcement doesn’t abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year,” he insisted. “Instead it’s a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety & the safety of others.”
With this executive order, we are ensuring that all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny.
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) March 2, 2021
